Dear Noah...

I had the OFFICIAL formal meeting with the staff and teachers and specialists at your school yesterday. I have to admit part of me was prepared to feel the usual dread prior to such meetings but this time I really did not experience it. I was really not even a little anxious. So that is good. The meeting went very well. The teachers and specialists were quite impressed with you and without tooting my own horn, said after reading the notes about you from before and your prior attempts at schools and former evaluations they could not believe you were the same little boy...as you have made that much improvement and progress. They thanked me for working so hard with you over this time to help accomplish those improvements and progress...stating that if all parents did as good a job as I did with you with homeschooling and social skills work.....they would all be out of a job. I have to admit I miss homeschooling.....and I still want to stick my hands back in that pot and get them wet with you again......even if only part-time here at home. I am hopeful you will still be receptive to doing it too and I can get my schedules and life worked out so I will have TIME to do this.

All in all you will remain in with the regular class which is GREAT news. I remember a time when I did not want you to be mainstreamed.....but now you are much more ready for it....even if you are emotionally more immature than your peers. At least you can handle it now very well. You are physically becoming stronger and have no limitations in gym. You will receive speech therapy and occupational therapy at school which is good news.....and you will have a few special helps in place to help you be successful but they are actually very minimal and nothing extreme as in the past. I was quite impressed with your scores on some of these tests. You are reading above a 12-year-old level which really did not surprise me...and you were off the charts in areas like memorization and visual skills. You have come a long way.

I got to meet your friend Travis yesterday who reminded me very much of you. When it was time to leave school you ran over to him and you both hugged...probably the only two boys in the entire school who would be willing to do that in front of everyone else on purpose! I loved it. Travis would like to get together and have you come to his house one day or the other way around. I think it is great you have made a friend you really enjoy playing with and you both "get" each other.

Life with OPIE the new kitten has been good for you too. I just cannot stand knowing I am not supposed to have a cat here and I do......that really bothers me and the pressure is mounting. You however are loving this cat and play with him all the time. I seriously need to just have everything fall into place so perfectly right now so I can take advantage of the buyer's market on houses and hopefully finally be able to BUY a big old house to give us more space.....and allowing us more freedom to do things in the house than we have now. We need the space......room to stretch out.

Now if I can whip out my money making machine and start reeling out those 100.00 bills......we will be in even better shape. I have worked hard to get to where I am today......and I do not wish to go back to where I came from....financially....etc. However, I MUST start working FULL time or increase my income in some fashion......and like YESTERDAY......so we will be able to survive. Working only part-time for 2 years has caught up with me......I cannot charge crap anymore.....the IN-come has to do just that.....actually come IN.

BUT not to worry......God always provides.......and somehow I know things will still work out very nicely for us......better than we could have imagined.

Here you are with Opie......you are so very happy to have this kitten to play with...